Christmas tree yard ornament



Sept. 21, 1937. F. EHLER, JR I 2,093,753

CHRISTMAS TREE YARD ORNAMENT Filed Oct. 22, 1936 I 8M0 MM FTECIEFIIEI"Jr- Patented Sept. 21, 1937 UNHTED STATES PATET OFFICE CHRISTMAS TREEYARD ORNAMENT Fred Ehler, Jr., Sheboygan, Wis.

Application October 22, 1936, Serial No. 107,008

7 Claims.

will permit the forming of extremely attractive garden settings underChristmas trees.

I have found that rope lends itself ideally to the forming of miniaturehedges, trees, bushes,

and so forth, in that the strands of the rope, and the fibers thereof,can be easily shaped and twisted, to assume and hold differentattractive shapes simulating foliage, and that the fibers will easilytake dyes, and the like, whereby the trees and other plants made can bereadily colored.

Therefore, another salient object of my invention is the forming ofminiature trees, hedges, bushes, and the like, out of sections of rope,with the fibers of the rope opened and spread in different manners toclosely simulate the actual article being copied.

A further important object of my invention is the provision of novelmeans for directly moulding the base of the rope, or rope strands, in ametallic foot or holder, whereby when the molten metal becomes set, thesame will function to hold the rope strands and fibers in correctposition, and act as a weight to prevent the acci dental tipping over ofthe trees and shrubs.

A still further object of my invention is to provide miniatureartificial trees, bushes, hedges, and so forth, for Christmas treegardens, which will be durable and efficient in use, easy and simple tomanufacture, and which can be placed upon the market at a reasonablecost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction, arrangement, and formation of parts, as will behereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the miniature artificial treeconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of a length of hedge formed in accordancewith my invention.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the length of hedge.

Figure i is an enlarged detail sectional view illustrating a step in themanufacture of a hedge.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference charactersdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral5 generally indicates a miniature artificial tree constructed inaccordance with the present invention. This tree 5 is formed from alength of rope 6, embodying a plurality of strands i. In the presentinstance I have shown a length of rope embodying four strands. For thepurpose of classifying the rope, the same can be considered as beingmade from sisal.

The length of rope 6 has wound thereabout for a portion of its length acord 8 to form the trunk of a tree, and certain strands of the rope areuntwisted a short distance above the trunk, and other strands of therope are carried a greater distance above the lower strands and thetrunk. In other words, the various strands of the rope are untwisted andbrought out at different points to form the limbs of the tree. The cord8 is wrapped around these limbs, and the limbs or rope strands are cutoff at the desired points to give different lengths of limbs, and thedesired height to the tree. The sisal fibers 9 at the ends of thestrands or tree limbs are left free, and are spread outwardly with thehands to form the tree foliage or branches. The tree trunk 6 and thelimbs I can be dyed or painted a brown color, while the tree foliage orbranches 9 can be painted a green color.

The lower end of the trunk of the tree is provided with a suitable heavybase I0, whereby the tree can be set upon a floor, or other support. Itis preferred to give this base 10 considerable weight or mass, wherebyto effectively hold the tree in an upright position against accidentaldisplacement.

Many different kinds of trees, bushes, hedges, and the like, can be madefrom the rope, in accordance with my invention, but for the purpose ofsimplifying the illustration I have only shown in the drawing theforming of a hedge ll, besides the one form of tree 5.

The hedges l I can be formed in various lengths suitable to theconsumer, and each length of hedge includes a plurality of rope strandsl2. Thus, to form the hedge the rope is preferably separated into itsdifferent strands, and I utilize as many strands as is necessary to formthe desired length of hedge. The lower ends of the rope strands l2 aresuitably anchored in an elongated base l3, which also has considerablemass to hold the hedge in an upright position. In effect, the base illof the tree, and the base [3 of the hedge, form a continuation, and partof the device being made. Thus, the base In of the tree may constitute acontinuation of the tree trunk,

and the base l3 for the hedge may constitute the wooden branch part of ahedge, and the bases l0 and i3 can then also be suitably colored.

The fibers of the rope strands [2 are opened and spread apart above thebase It so as to provide the foliage for the hedge, and these strandsare painted or dyed the desired green, or any other color.

In Figure 4 I have illustrated one step in the method of anchoring therope, or rope strands, in a base. This figure more specificallyrepresents the forming of a hedge or bush. In accordance with this stepof manufacture, the inner ends of the rope strands are clamped within atwo-part mould M, and after the rope strands are held in correctposition, the mould is filled with moulten metal, such as lead, I5. Thismoulten metal firmly unites the fibers of the rope strands, and preventsthe accidental displacement thereof. After the metal has cooled, themould sections can be removed, and the rope strands are then trimmed offthe desired distance, and the fibers are then spread out to give theappearance of a hedge or a bush. The stiffness of the fibers assures theholding of the desired shape.

Obviously, in the forming of bushes, the bush can be given more than onecolor, and if desired drops of paint can be placed on a bush to simulatethe appearance of flowers, berries, and the like.

From the foregoing description it can be seen that I have provided anexceptionally simple means for economically forming miniature artificialtrees, bushes, and the like, which will closely simulate the appearanceof real trees, bushes, and the like. Due to the nature of the materialsemployed, the miniature trees, bushes, and the like, are enabled towithstand rough handling and treatment, and thus the articles can beused year after year.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or thescope of my invention, but what I claim as new is:

1. An artificial miniature tree, bush, or the like, comprising a lengthof rope including a plurality of strands, one portion of the ropeconstituting a trunk, the other portion of the rope above the trunkbeing separated into strands to form limbs with the outer ends thereofspread apart to simulate foliage.

2. An artificial tree, bush, or the like, constructed from a length ofrope including a plurality of twisted strands, a portion of the ropeforming the trunk, a base receiving the lower end of the trunk forsupporting the same, the portion of the rope above the trunk beingseparated into strands to form limbs, with the outer ends thereof spreadopen to form foliage.

3. The method of forming a miniature artificial tree which consists intaking a length of rope including a plurality of twisted strands,winding 2. binding member around a portion of the rope to simulate thetrunk of a tree, separating the strands of the rope above the trunk toform limbs, and separately binding the limbs leaving the outer ends ofthe strands free, and separating the ends of the strands to simulatefoliage.

4. The method of forming a miniature artificial tree which consists intaking a length of rope including a plurality of twisted strands,Winding a binding member around a portion of the rope to simulate thetrunk of a tree, separating the strands of the rope above the trunk toform limbs and separately binding the limbs leaving the outer ends ofthe strands free, separating the ends of the strands to simulatefoliage, and then coloring the trunk, limbs, and foliage.

5. The process of forming miniature artificial trees, bushes, hedges,and the like, which consists in taking a section of a rope, clamping theinner end of the rope section in a mould, pouring moulten metal in themould around the inner end of the rope section, allowing the moultenmetal to cool, trimming off the outer end of the rope section, and thenopening up the fibers of the rope section beyond the mould to formfoliage.

6. The process of forming miniature artificial trees, bushes, hedges,and the like, which consists in taking a section of a rope, clamping theinner end of the rope section in a mould, pouring moulten metal in themould around the inner end of the rope section, allowing the moultenmetal to cool, trimming off the outer end of the rope section, thenopening up the fibers of the rope section beyond the mould to formfoliage, and coloring the foliage and moulten base.

'7. A miniature artificial tree, bush, hedge, and the like, comprising alength of rope with the upper end thereof separated into fibers tosimulate foliage, and a moulten metal base around the inner end of therope section constituting a continuation of the article simulated.

FRED EHLER, JR.

